Auto racing | Xfinity driver hooked on thrill of victory

Friday

Aug 11, 2017 at 9:35 PMAug 11, 2017 at 9:35 PM

Tim May The Columbus Dispatch @TIM_MAYsports

There are drivers in the Xfinity Series, the proving ground for the NASCAR Cup Series, who are in it full-time, who are racing for the championship, who have dedicated their lives to making it big-time.

Then there is part-timer Justin Marks, who seems bent on spoiling the party for all of those others more than anything else.

As much as he is dedicated to running his several businesses in North Carolina, and even though he has climbing Mount Everest on his bucket list, he jumps at the chance to compete on occasion for the Chip Ganassi Racing team. Last year, he buckled in and won the Xfinity race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, something he wants to do again Saturday.

“Racing, it’s a drug really, and it’s really, really hard to step away from it when you’ve got opportunities to keep racing,” said Marks, 36, who stepped away from a full-time pursuit five years ago. “Everybody that does it loves it so much and is so passionate about it, it’s a big focus point in their lives.

“The last couple of years I had the opportunity to go race at a really high level with Chip Ganassi Racing, and as long as the opportunity is out there I’m going to do it, because it’s my favorite thing to do. And obviously we’ve had success and can contend for wins, which makes it even better.”

As he said, the rush has no equal.

“It’s a life sentence.”

And winning?

“It’s what you shoot for, it’s what kind of motivates every minute of the exercise,” Marks said. “And when you do it, all the hard work and the dedication come to fruition.”

Last year at Mid-Ohio, he held off another Xfinity part-timer — but also the former IndyCar champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr. — to win on a rain-soaked track. It was Marks’ first win in the series in which he’s raced just 30 times.

“Winning, it motivates you to keep going almost more than losing,” Marks said.